The Wheel of the Year

Patanjali has given us the eight Limbs of Yoga and Mother Earth has given us the eight limbs of the Wheel of the Year. The Wheel of the Year is like a Goddess with eight arms, each arm bearing a gift, a boon.

A solar year is measured from Vernal Equinox to Vernal Equinox. It takes Planet Earth approximately three hundred and sixty five days to orbit once around the sun and return to the same point. Our beautiful Earth is wonky, and because it is rotating at an angle we have the different seasons. Working with the Wheel of the year gives us an opportunity to connect with Mother Earth and the subtle energies of her changing seasons.

The sun is a star at the centre of our solar system and all the planets revolve around it. Hatha Yoga teaches us to look within and to discover both the sun and the moon within our own body. Through our yoga practice we learn to balance our solar energy HA, and our lunar energy THA. Our Seasonal Yoga Practice reveals to us a cosmos within ourselves that is a mirror image of the outer cosmos.

Sunlight and Shadow

Mircea Elliade in his book "Yoga: Immortality and Freedom" says: "A considerable proportion of Indian mystical physiology is based upon the identifications of "suns" and "moons" in the human body."

Yoga is often translated as "union", as in a marriage. This union, or marriage, between complimentary opposites helps us to find balance in our lives. The goal of yoga is to balance these complimentary opposites, so that we reach a state of equilibrium and peace.

The Wheel of the Year gives us a very tangible way of integrating sunlight and shadow, light and dark, yin and yang, inner and outer, and heaven and earth, into our lives and into our yoga practice. At the summer solstice when the light is at its most expansive, we learn to stay connected to the inner wisdom and healing powers of darkness. At the winter solstice when darkness has peaked, we learn to create a space within our own hearts for the return of the Sun.

The Wheel of the Year is a living mandala. It is a pilgrimage around the seasons of the year that connects us to an ancient Earth wisdom. The Wheel of the Year gives the Seasonal Yoga practitioner a tool to work with and gives order and a structure to our enquiry.The eight Celtic festivals provide an opportunity every six weeks to link to the cycle of the seasons, to review what we have been doing, understand what we have learned from our experiences and focus on what we want to encourage or change in our lives. By focussing on ourselves in this way we become much clearer about who we are and create closer connections to the Earth. These eight Celticfestivals are part of a continuous cycle without beginning or end.

“Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing high,Still I’ll rise.”